When I Walk Alone
by FireFalconDeux
Summary: Bella decides to do her own thing... and takes a turn down a path that leads to Edward's ruin. Oneshot, songfic I Walk Alone, by Tarja . Edward bashing, James/Bella implied. Rated T, just in case. Please review.


_A/N: Just to warn ye... This is my first Twilight fanfic, and I feel that it's... rusty. Anyhow, typical disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, nor do I own the song (I Walk Alone, by Tarja). Just the ideas. More Edward bashing and such, yay. This is basically a shorter, calmer version of I Wish I Had Your Angel... With a twist. : Enjoy, and please review._

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I lay against the wall, bits of the shattered mirror scattered around me like razor-edged diamonds

I lay against the wall, bits of the shattered mirror scattered around me like razor-edged diamonds. I could almost hear the dripping of what life I had left in me falling from my wounds to the floor, slick and already painted crimson in a neat puddle around my body.

"BELLA!"

_Put all your angels on the edge…  
Keep all the roses, I'm not dead…_

Everything had been silent seconds before, save for the steady drip, drip, drip of blood and the low, almost inaudible growl of an impatient predator, waiting in the blackness of the dance studio. Then it all went still, and a familiar, piercing cry rang through the seemingly empty room, footsteps rushing towards me.

Always so foolish.

_I left a thorn under your bed…  
…I'm never gone._

"Bella, oh gods, no… Please, Bella, don't die."

_Go tell the World I'm still around…  
I didn't fly, I'm coming down._

"Edward," I breathed, opening my eyes and gazing up at the beautiful creature. A small, gentle smile touched my lips. "You came."

_You are the wind, the only sound,  
Whisper to my heart…_

His golden eyes raked across my face, desperately searching. "Hang on, please… I need you, Bella. I can't go through this world without you. Don't die. The others will get here soon..."

_When hope is torn apart…_

I reached up to touch his face, smoothing back a lock of his dark hair. "They'll be too late."

Fury etched into his expression. "Don't say that! They'll be able to save you, Bella, just--"

And then, the sleeve of my shirt slid back as I slowly, purposefully cupped his chin with my hand… His gaze fell upon the wound on my arm, the perfect crescent-moon shape of a vampire's bite. Edward, eyes wide, looked back up to me, anger melting into what might have been fear. I never cared enough to wonder what he was feeling at that moment; betrayal is an interesting thing.

"Who said I meant _me_?" I asked softly.

_…And no one can save you._

"…Bella…"

_I walk alone.  
Every step I take,  
I walk alone._

"So nice of you to join us, Edward," the smooth voice of the second vampire called from the shadows. "And here I was wondering if my deal with this lovely acquaintance of yours here would fall through."

Edward's eyes didn't move from mine. "What did you do?" he whispered, hands slowly closing around my wrists. "Bella, tell me!"

_My winter storm,  
Holding me awake…  
It's never gone…_

James stepped into the dim lighting about five paces behind Edward, his eyes a deep garnet from his recent feast on my blood. "She proved to be quite entertaining… necessary, of course, to save her own life and that of her family, you must understand. Seems she has some sense of self-preservation after all."

_…When I walk alone._

"What the hell did you do?" Edward repeated, hands tightening further into a grip that likely was leaving fractures in my wrists. "Goddamn it, what deal did you make?!"

_Go back to sleep forevermore,  
Far from your fools and lock the door…_

My smile turned to stone upon my lips, hardened and cold. "James, I'd like to have a last moment with my old boyfriend here… Can you make sure the others don't interrupt us?"

_They're all around and they'll make sure  
You don't have to see  
What I turned out to be…_

Edward dropped my arms like they were serpents. "Bella, you can't do this!"

_…No one can help you._

For a moment, the terror and hurt in his eyes struck the remaining chord of humanity in me… But the sweet note died all too soon to convince me turn back, and I rose from my place on the floor with the conviction to carry my part of the deal through. I took a step towards him; he took one backwards, wary.

"It wasn't an easy choice, at first," I said, circling around the man I thought I'd once loved. "Alice told me it'd hurt, that it'd take days. But you said I was different, and I suppose it was true…"

Edward turned so that he could watch me, his voice pleading. "Bella, please…"

I shook my head, bits of glass falling from my hair; you could almost here them hit the floor in the stillness of the dance studio. "It only hurt at first," I said quietly. "See, Edward, at first it was to protect all of you, my family and my friends. I thought it would hurt to lose you. But while I lay there, I had time to think. All those times you were cruel to me…"

_I walk alone.  
Every step I take,  
I walk alone._

He took another step back and I moved in closer. "I barely knew you then!"

"All those times you tried to control me, lied to me…"

"Damnit Bella, I was trying to protect you from--"

I was mere feet away now, and Edward was between James and I; he barely seemed to notice his enemy slowly approaching from behind. "All those times you treated this gift as a curse, denying me and the one thing I ever wanted... Forever with you."

Edward didn't reply. He couldn't; there was nothing to say. I took one final step forward, and he froze as I leaned in close, raising my hands and placing one on each cheek. There was defeat in his eyes, and when he found his words, they were as hollow as the emotions I now held for him.

"It's not too late. The poison hasn't completely spread…"

"You barely knew me then… and you still don't." I smiled. "Goodbye, Edward."

_My winter storm…_

The light in Edward's eyes faded, and after giving him one last kiss, I dropped his bodiless head to the floor. I stepped over the carcass, feeling unnaturally giddy as I went to the side of my former nemesis. He brushed a lock of hair from my cheek, assessing me with his calm gaze.

_Holding me awake,  
It's never gone…_

"That was quite a performance, dear one," he said quietly, almost purring as I licked Edward's blood from his fingertips; he was all too much enjoying the thought of what I'd promised him. "Definitely an improvement from when we first met…"

_…When I walk alone._

"When we first met, I was under the impression that Cullen was my god and that you wanted me for a midnight snack," I replied derisively, tilting my head to the side as James returned the favor, gently lapping the blood from my neck.

"You are officially released from the former," he murmured, nipping lightly at my earlobe, "but the latter, depending on interpretation…"

_Waiting up in heaven,  
I was never far from you…_

Cool lips touched mine as I turned my head towards him, the chastisement taken from my tongue as one of his arms moved behind my shoulder and the other, to my waist; there was no being pushed away, no angry remarks about how I was asking for trouble…

Already damned, wasn't I? Perhaps I could enjoy it too, the descent into the waiting darkness; it tasted sweet, poison and adrenaline melting together into a twistedly seductive delirium. I pressed closer to the blond, kissing him back with what little energy I had left in me; I would be more than content to seal the last parts of our arrangement.

I wasn't damned… I was free. Free of the human world, and free of that son of a bitch.

_…Spinning down I felt your every move…_

James pulled back only slightly as the front door nearly buckled, snarls of pure fury coming from the other side. Our eyes locked; a wordless agreement passed between us, and I leaned into James' embrace as he moved to hold me closer… safer. I held tight as he leaped to the open window near the ceiling, using one hand to casually light a match from his jacket pocket on the metal sill. He dropped the match to the dry, wood floors below, and I looked one last time down at the pile of flesh that had been Edward Cullen as everything was engulfed in flames.

_I walk alone.  
Every step I take,  
I walk alone…_

"Are you afraid?"

_My winter storm,  
Holding me awake…_

The irony of the question was not lost on me, and as the hunter took me away from all that I had known… I closed my eyes on humanity, answering with the truth for the first time since this story had begun:

"Not anymore."


End file.
